Red Reflections
by weasley-freckles
Summary: Red John has finally been caught. Jane reflects on what happened and finally moves on. Slight Jibson. Just a short drabble.


Patrick Jane sighed as he looked over the bullpen he had become so familiar with. It was over. It was _finally_ over. They had finally caught Red John.

Jane focused his gaze on the closed blinds that blocked his view into Lisbon's office. She claimed she had paperwork to do, but he knew she was contemplating the events of earlier that day.

If it weren't for Lisbon, Jane would be in jail right now. He was the one who had found Red John, had gone in before anybody had gotten there, not willing to wait for backup or even the rest of his team. And she was the first one to get there, to run into the room with her gun drawn, to manage to pull Jane off of Red John after he'd only suffered a couple blows to the head under Jane's rage.

Jane knew that if Lisbon hadn't come in, he would have killed Red John. And despite what he'd said before, his claims that he wanted nothing more than to kill Red John with his bare hands for revenge, his pseudo-threat that Lisbon would regret it if she stood in way of his revenge, he was grateful for what she had done. Now that everything was finally, finally over, and his head more clear than it had been in nearly a decade, Jane knew his late wife would never have wanted him to become a killer, even for their beautiful daughter.

Reflecting on everything, Jane realized that it really wasn't over. There was still one more thing left to do, and only one person he wanted to do it with. Decision made, he started toward Lisbon's office, already planning his argument to get her to take the rest of the day off.

Lisbon was confused, Jane knew this. He had practically dragged her out of the office, claiming he needed help with a vitally important task, only to bring her to Home Depot.

"Jane, what the hell are we doing here? I thought you said you needed my help with something important!" Lisbon asked in that same tone she always used when Jane did something stupid, a tone he had come to love.

"All will become clear in time, my dear Lisbon." Jane responded with his usual 100-watt smile, before he continued to peruse the aisle while reflecting on the woman beside him.

Lisbon was special in a way Jane thought no other woman could ever be after his wife died. Jane, despite his exceptional observational and reasoning skills, hadn't realized just how special she was until that night almost three years ago when he shot the sheriff, his only link to Red John, to save Lisbon. Though he had vowed to let nothing stand in the way of finding and killing Red John, and would have gladly given his life to fulfill his goal of revenge, that night he discovered that he couldn't risk Lisbon's. Lisbon was more important than revenge.

But the sword was double-edged. Though the events of that night made him realize the extent of his feelings for the Senior Agent, he also knew he couldn't act on them. It wouldn't be fair to either of them, not until after Red John was found.

And so here they were today, with that major barrier finally gone. His purchases from Home Depot in the trunk of the car, Jane drove himself and Lisbon to their final destination.

Lisbon looked at Jane's home, wondering why they were here. She had never been inside before, despite all the years she had known the mentalist.

Jane didn't say anything, merely grabbed the stuff he bought out of the trunk and walked to the front door, unlocking it then holding it open for her to come inside.

Ironically, it was the scarcity of items to study in Jane's house – because it was in no way a home, that much was obvious – that made it so enlightening. Aside from a desk next to the door, there was no furniture that Lisbon could see on the first floor, revealing how empty his life was after the loss of his family.

However, it appeared the first floor wasn't their destination, as Jane didn't even give it a glance before walking up the stairs, leaving Lisbon to follow.

On the second floor, Jane led Lisbon to the closed door directly across from the staircase. When Jane opened the door, Lisbon realized with both horror and sadness that he had never moved out of the house his family was murdered in, had never even removed the ugly red smiley on the wall.

Jane began to set up everything he had bought, and Lisbon suddenly realized why he had brought her here, what he planned to do.

When everything was finally ready, Jane turned to Lisbon.

"I know I should have been able to do this before, but I could never bring myself to do it. I thought I deserved the reminder of what I had caused, so that I would never forget what I needed to do. But now Red John is going to rot in jail until he gets executed, so it's time I finally moved on for good. It just seemed…right, to have you do this with me."

Lisbon could only nod as she accepted the roller Jane handed her, honored that he wanted her here to help him with this final step.

Together, they dipped their rollers into the paint in the tray on the floor, and with one last glance at each other, painted over the red smiley face, wiping out the last reminder of Red John from their lives.


End file.
